"In England we have this one-eyed Scottish idiot, the one-eyed Scottish man, he keeps telling us everything's fine and he's saved the world and we know he's lying, but he's smooth at telling us."

During the press conference, Clarkson put his hand over his mouth after calling Mr Brown a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" and said: "Oh I've said that now..."

His co-presenter Richard Hammond added: "You've said that out loud as well."

But Clarkson was undeterred and carried on with his comments about Mr Brown.

A Downing Street spokesman later declined to respond to Clarkson's description of Mr Brown as a "one-eyed Scottish idiot", saying only: "I don't think I'm going to get into those comments."

Asked at a daily briefing of Westminster reporters how the Prime Minister would respond to the Top Gear presenter's suggestion that Mr Rudd was being more honest with voters about the economic crisis, the spokesman said: "Mr Clarkson is entitled to his own interpretation of the economic circumstances."

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